title: Religious and spiritual beliefs, self-esteem, anxiety, and depression among nursing students.
abstract: Research of the role of religious belief and/or spirituality has been conducted on a wide range of health-related topics, across many disciplines, and in many countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religious beliefs, self-esteem, anxiety, and depression in nursing students in Cyprus. One hundred and twenty-three nursing students were asked to complete a survey consisting of four self-report questionnaires (Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, The Royal Free Interview for Religious and Spiritual Beliefs, and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale). The lowest levels of depression were observed in the third and fourth study year. Normal self-esteem levels were found in the majority of the students (71.3%) and most of them perceived current stress at mild levels. No significant differences on the basis of sex were observed. The vast majority (98.2%) of the students stated a strong religious and/or a spiritual belief that was strongly positively correlated with increased self-esteem and negatively correlated with depression, current stress, and stress as personality trait.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Papazisis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicolaou
authors.forename: Evangelia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tsiga
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Christoforou
authors.forename: Despina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sapountzi-Krepia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003535:Cyprus / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D029181:Spirituality; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cyprus; anxiety; depression; nursing students; religious belief; self-esteem; stress